Thread: The Programmers & Computer Enthusiast Guild

Taz has made billions upon billions of posts and is an Uruk-Hai from Isengard and is not online.
Posted Thursday 1st January 1970 (12:00am)

Ok here is the code for our basic template, I will explain this first.

Code:

Quote:

Valedhelgwath

So, as with all HTML pages the golden rule is whenever you open a tag you must close it, a tag example would be; - This tag controls what the page is going to be called, as shown in the top caption of your web browser. To close a tag you just do the same again but have a "/" in front, e.g. Now, tags not only have properties but can also have attributes.. I.E. Our

tag, this allows you to specify attributes that control it's overall functionality. So as you can see in our code we have specified it's width, height, cellpadding and so forth... Hopefully the majority of the

's attributes are self explanitory by name.

The code that is boldened and starting/ending with "So... Let's go through each peice of code.

* - This tag is required in all HTML documents, it should be at the very start and end of all your documents, it's purpose is to tell the browser what kind of document it is viewing and to parse it accordingly.

* - This tag is generally the next after the head, it holds many other tags such as our and a very common tag(s)... tags are used by search engines and browsers to give more information on your webpage such as the HTMl version, a "description" and "keywords".. It also has many other cool attribues such as refresh and more however we will look into another day.

* - Kind of self explanatory, this tag allows you to give the page a title which is shown in the users browser caption.

* - The tag holds the main content of your website, everything else goes in here.

*

- Hmmm, an interesting one is this. Tables are used for many reasons however I would say the main one being to control how your content is displayed. As you can see above it has many attributes that allow you to control is functionality. This tag will be used a lot to create our "book" feel to the website.. I should imagine we will be doing a lot more with this including rows and columns.

*

- This tag belongs to the

tag, it means "Table Row" and to include anything within a table you must always have at least one of these and a

tag.

*

- This tag creates a column, you must always start in the order of

, first creating the row and then the column of which to put your content... Eventually when your more familliar with tables we will look into nested tables, rows and columns as these allow some spiffy ways to show your site stuff

And I believe that is it, you should see that we have closed all the tags down as this is good practice. Chances are if you forgot to close a tag the browser wouldn't spew as IE for one has quite a lot of AI built into it but we must not forget that there are people out there who use versions of Netscape 4 and below.

I hope this helps and will wait for responses/questions before proceeding onto making nested cells as to created the skeleton for the book cover design.

Valedhelgwath has made 4242 posts and is an Elf from Rivendell and is not online.
Posted Thursday 1st January 1970 (12:00am)

Taz leaps to my help once more.

I'll join Taz, but I know very little about programming (actually that's exagerating my talents... I know nothing about programming)My aim then... I want to learn how to make my own website where I can print out a novel I wrote a few years ago. I want the pages of the site to look like a big leatherbound tome, so that it appears as though you are reading the story from a book rather than just plain pages of text. I also want to be able to have a few pictures within as well.I did try half-heartedly at creating my own site a while back, but it wouldn't let me put much script on each page, and I seemed to be limited to about a dozen pages. It didn't really do what I wanted it to do, and then when I went back to it, I couldn't even find it again So, tutorials.... I'll sign up for a few.

Languages... I did teach myself Spectrum basic once upon a time, but that was probably before you were born

I don't know if the smilies are playing up, Taz, but I just had to edit them all out of this post to get the text to write...

Gimli_axe_wielder has made 561 posts and is a Dwarf from Glittering Caves and is not online.
Posted Thursday 1st January 1970 (12:00am)

lets see, I can do html.. which is arguable if its a language or not... :P Um... I can do some Java Script for use on websites.. and once tried my hand at Perl.. but I was never successful at that one.. i gave up!

um.. thats about it for languages for me... I do know computers ok... as far as using them.. installing software things like that.. my friends and family all have me come over to figure it out when their computers are acting screwy!

Taz has made billions upon billions of posts and is an Uruk-Hai from Isengard and is not online.
Posted Thursday 1st January 1970 (12:00am)

Great two new members, welcome Val and Gimli!

Quote:I want to learn how to make my own website where I can print out a novel I wrote a few years ago. I want the pages of the site to look like a big leatherbound tome, so that it appears as though you are reading the story from a book rather than just plain pages of text. I also want to be able to have a few pictures within as well.

Looks like we have our first project! I propose to host Val's new site and for it to be writen in HTML and also for fun some dynamic stuff writen in PHP (www.php.net)... I was thinking we could do each page step by step, first working on the structure then graphics, and printing all the code in here whilst viewing it live at something like val.tazonline.org - Ideas?

Gimli_axe_wielder has made 561 posts and is a Dwarf from Glittering Caves and is not online.
Posted Thursday 1st January 1970 (12:00am)

Looking good taz... my site has a few tables as well. Its something I always wanted to learn, but never did any until just recenty, so this is a great help to me.. I look forward to working on this.... I just got Flash MX.. perhaps some day, once everyone gets a little more versed in html, we can move on to that.. Im having a great time with it, though honesly i havent a clue what I am doing!!!

Valedhelgwath has made 4242 posts and is an Elf from Rivendell and is not online.
Posted Thursday 1st January 1970 (12:00am)

Wow, this all seems fantastic, Taz. At the moment it's early hours over here, and I've really got to get to bed because I've got my son here and as I've just got a new PC to link up with this one, he's bound to get me up early. A lot of what you wrote above is confusing to me at the moment, but hopefully when I get a chance to digest it better, some of it will sink in.I like the idea of you hosting my site because the concept of the story is based around a group of people from a place very similar to Umbar (in fact the story was based on a MiddleEarth Roleplaying game set in Umbar, but due to copywrite reasons I changed the map and all the names when it came to be written).It's a little dark in places, (fantasy/horror), and a little brutal as you'd expect with the characters coming from Umbar. It'll be nice to finally be able to give it access to a wider audience.This'll be useful for me too, learning how to do this stuff, and having a final goal to achieve as my reward as I go along.

At the moment there are only two copies in existance. One is on paper and the other is on a set of floppy discs taken from an old Amiga which I used to write it on. I am currently using Wordtext Classic to scan the paper copy and convert it into Word. Will I be able to import the final Word document into this program or should I stop doing what I am doing and get ready to type it all in?

Taz has made billions upon billions of posts and is an Uruk-Hai from Isengard and is not online.
Posted Thursday 1st January 1970 (12:00am)

No it should be fine, there are many *ways* to get around that, I will continue on with the next part of the site later this evening, also I need to start doing some graphics for the book effect, *yummy*

TomBombadillo has made 2746 posts and is an Elf from Rivendell and is not online.
Posted Thursday 1st January 1970 (12:00am)

I'm a computer f-r-e-a-k, cos I can't be dragged from it unless I really have to, but I don't know anything about programming or sofware or whatever it's called and I got confused just by reading all of this, so I'll leave you to it.

Gimli_axe_wielder has made 561 posts and is a Dwarf from Glittering Caves and is not online.
Posted Thursday 1st January 1970 (12:00am)

confusing people. oh dear... Well, I understood it all taz.. but then I already knew what you were talking about.. how bout this.. any parts that are mentioned that anyone doesn't understand, go ahead and ask and im sure someone will try to explain it further to you...

Valedhelgwath has made 4242 posts and is an Elf from Rivendell and is not online.
Posted Thursday 1st January 1970 (12:00am)

Wow, I still can't believe this is finally going to happen. Thanks, Taz. I'd better get a move on with converting the text to Word then. So far I've only done about a fifth of it (although it didn't help having someone borrow the only copy for several months).

PlasticSquirrel has made 3579 posts and is a Hobbit from Buckland and is not online.
Posted Thursday 1st January 1970 (12:00am)

Looking good in here. I'm kind of self taught in HTML, Java and ASP (as in I cheat and use WYSIWYG editors and then go look at the code) so most of what I do is kinda hit and miss, but I hate getting lessons in anything. But I reckon this could be fun. If you want any really useful hints and tips for HTML stuff, Bravent.coom have a huge archive of really very cool tags for doing impressive looking stuff really easily.

Valedhelgwath has made 4242 posts and is an Elf from Rivendell and is not online.
Posted Thursday 1st January 1970 (12:00am)

Having viewed it in the light of day (several times) lesson one seems to be sinking in. The HTML tags are like commands, influencing whatever lies between them. I intended having a bit of a play, see what I could make happen, but as of yet I've been too busy either at work, scanning the forum or writing a new story to give it a go.

I've got Notepad (although it's playing up at the moment by always defaulting itself to landscape mode), but I've never heard of IE. What's that?

Rednell has made 1808 posts and is a Dunedain from Osgiliath and is not online.
Posted Thursday 1st January 1970 (12:00am)

IE is Internet Explorer. I haven't tried yet, but if I understand this: I do my coding in notepad then go into IE, click on view and choose source. Then you should see the results. As I said, I have not tried this. Maybe the Squirrel could enlightened us a little more..

PlasticSquirrel has made 3579 posts and is a Hobbit from Buckland and is not online.
Posted Thursday 1st January 1970 (12:00am)

Okay, when you clivk on view source, that just shows you the html code of the page you are currently viewing. To view your hard work, you need to type the file path in the address bar at the top (where you normally put your www. stuff) your filepath (if I need to go this far) is something like C:\\My Documents\crappything.htm or you can just double click on your saved file in windows explorer, or left click it and click on open with. Anything else?

Rednell has made 1808 posts and is a Dunedain from Osgiliath and is not online.
Posted Thursday 1st January 1970 (12:00am)

Yep, I did notice that I was viewing the HTML for the page I was viewing. I have (hopefully) followed your instruction... and I see a whole lot more coding but some of it is the same as in my saved doc. Is this what I am suppose to see? ...maybe I should stick with my day job.

MelliotSandybanks has made 1517 posts and is a Hobbit from Hobbiton and is not online.
Posted Friday 8th September 2006 (12:37am)

Ok, I did not realize that you were going to be teaching us dunces to do stuff. When I first read the thread, I thought that you were going to start on harder projects for people that already knew what they were doing.

Well, I am ready to try. My knowledge of computers is less than Val's. I will try to keep up, but so far I am still confused, just reading. Perhaps if I put into practice what I am reading, it will help. So bare with me guys.

Quote: So, as with all HTML pages the golden rule is whenever you open a tag you must close it,

That makes sense. If you open anything you are suppoe to close it, correct?

Quote: This tag controls what the page is going to be called, as shown in the top caption of your web browser.

When you refer to the top caption of your web browser, you are referring to the very tip top of the page that is open correct? Like for instance this one is called Planet-Tolkien.com :: Your Daily Leading Resource for J.R.R. Tolkien Related Infromation - Micorft Internet Explorer.r

Quote: Now, tags not only have properties but can also have attributes.. I.E. Our

tag, this allows you to specify attributes that control it's overall functionality. So as you can see in our code we have specified it's width, height, cellpadding and so forth... Hopefully the majority of the

's attributes are self explanitory by name.
Ok, width and height are self explanitory, but what does cellpadding mean?
I just copied the same attributes that Taz had in his example. How do you come up with what the height and width are going to be? Is there a standard? I take it that the little <> symbols are very important. These are how you tell the computer what you are doing? Everything begins and ends with them.?

Quote: * - This tag is required in all HTML documents, it should be at the very start and end of all your documents, it's purpose is to tell the browser what kind of document it is viewing and to parse it accordingly.

So every document is going to have at the beginning and end. Ok, I got that. Does it matter if it is capitalized or in lower case letters? Which is better to use? Do you have to be consistant? For instance, at the beginning of a document, if you start out with say , doe it have to be exact at the end.? or can it be ? What to you mean by parse it accordingly? That does not make sense to me. Ok, every thing else seemed to make sense. Or almost everything, what does AI mean?rrMy fist step is to do what? Open Notepad?
Step 2 is to type in a code simialr to what Taz typed.? Is that correct so far?

Ok, this is what I did:

Quote:

Mellie's Page

height="0">

And I saved it as Mellie's Page.html Now I did not understand how I was suppose to open it. Can you please try to explain it very very slowly, like you would to a person that mentally retarded? That would be me around computers.rrIs that correct so far?

I am really sorry this is so long. I am really trying to understand what I am doing, or at least attempting to do. I am going to have to keep editing this thing, and take it one step at a time, or I will be completely lost. Ok, maybe I really should give up. This is just getting too long. But it would be so wonderful to be able to show Matthew, that I actually learned something about computers.

Gimli_axe_wielder has made 561 posts and is a Dwarf from Glittering Caves and is not online.
Posted Thursday 1st January 1970 (12:00am)

Lets see... cell padding. thats one of two things... and Taz can tell you which one because ive forgotten.. but it is either, the space in between columns and rows... or the space between the letters inside the column or row, and the edge of the column or row.

ok.. that made no sense... TAZ!!!!

at a quick glance, your example there looked ok..

as for case sensitive.. ie. HTML vs html.. it shouldnt matter.. Ive seen it done both ways.. either works as far as I know..

MelliotSandybanks has made 1517 posts and is a Hobbit from Hobbiton and is not online.
Posted Thursday 1st January 1970 (12:00am)

Thank you both for your answers. Taz probably did forget, but I bet he is really really really busy. He is the busiest purple fluffy fraggle I have ever met. Maybe one day, I will get to learn how to actually use the D@@n Computer. But until then, I have enough to keep me busy myself.

LaurÃ«lin_Mallenuial has made 9 posts and is from and is not online.
Posted Thursday 1st January 1970 (12:00am)

please be able to help me, please be able to help me, please be able to help me. *continues to recite* lol

*sigh* Is there anyone that can help me set up a Post-nuke thingy (lol) on my site? I would ask someone from their official site boards to help but I personally want another tolkien fan so I don't feel they're laughing at me when they know it's a fansite. lol

umm, i'm like a total brunette that's like blonde when like it comes to the whole php, mysql and other stuff like that like.

p.s. if anyone of you would like to be part of my site admin team you can let me know. =)

Thanks, and I'd be eternally gratefull and will give you plaid waterbuffalos and m&m's if ya can offer any assistance.

Ishayala has made 57 posts and is from and is not online.
Posted Thursday 1st January 1970 (12:00am)

I would really like to help you Allyssa but I certainly have NO idea what or where could be the problem. I´ll ask a friend who knows a little more about strange-windows-errors than me, but I can´t promise anything.Sometimes it´s difficult to recognize where the problem is without beeing there.What kind of software was that??

And Laurelin: You´re trying to put up a forum??Correct me if I´m wrong(sorry I´m really bad in English...)If you want to ask something just say it and I´ll try to help you the best I can lol

Valedhelgwath has made 4242 posts and is an Elf from Rivendell and is not online.
Posted Thursday 1st January 1970 (12:00am)

Quote:Btw Val, how did the book-thing go? did you ever get it finished???*curious*

Not yet I'm afraid, Perwing. With work, PT, and a few other projects I have going on, I just don't seem to get the time. I have currently scanned four chapters out of about 24 into my hard drive, but I haven't really touched it since before Christmas.

I'm currently designing my own website at the moment which will be ready in maybe a months time. At some stage I will add the story to it.

Valedhelgwath has made 4242 posts and is an Elf from Rivendell and is not online.
Posted Thursday 1st January 1970 (12:00am)

Quote:What are you building your site on Valedhelgwath?

Sorry, I'm not really sure what you are asking Kaimelar; whether you mean what software I'm using, or what the site is going to be about.

I'm just using Microsoft Frontpage, and the site will just be my own site really (a bit about me and my interests, a section about where I work, and some of my fiction etc).

I'm just doing it really to get some practice in because where I work have asked me to design a new website for them. Originally we were going to get something done professionally, but after several expensive breakdowns with our boats, the website budget was slashed to almost nothing. As my experience with PT gives me more experience with websites than anyone else in the office, they've decided it'll be my job to design the new one.

Kaimelar has made 54 posts and is from and is not online.
Posted Thursday 1st January 1970 (12:00am)

months, days, hours, minutes, seconds till Return of the King

Why doesn't this fit nicely in a small area about 110 px high X 300 px wide?

I want to put it on the top (under the banner) of the following page:

http://www.geocities.com/scrltbegonia17/movies.html

It keeps bunching up into a list and I want it to be in a complete sentence form...there's probably an easy solution to this but I've looked at it for way to long ~ I can no longer find anything wrong...Help!!???!!

Excelsior has made 13 posts and is from and is not online.
Posted Thursday 1st January 1970 (12:00am)

WOW this is a neat forum, i happen to be the computer guru in my house(although my expertise is limited,we've only had it for about a year).I have learned to program in Qbasic,Visualbasic(kinda),html(sorta,only started a few days ago).And me and a buddy have been working on a website,although we've just started(he's done the hard work;i was merely advice and the like).p.s. this is my first post!

(Due to the political content of the Vtec site it was removed. Please send a private postBody to Excelsior if you would like the URL. - Rednell)

Grondmaster has made 25465 posts and is a Dwarf from Glittering Caves and has sailed into the West.
Posted Thursday 1st January 1970 (12:00am)

Quote:Oh, I have another question to ask. I'm sure everyone is familiar with the TolkienWorld website, which lists the Tolkien related sites that are popular, that are of good quality, and so on. For some reason, this site isn't working for me. When I click on the sites' link, a blank page with this text comes up:

Quote: Error: Could not execute query on table stats

Does anyobody know why? Can anybody help??

P.S. just in case it might be a browser problem, just to let you know I am running Internet Explorer 6.0 with Roadrunner Broadband Connection.

Thanks

I think TolkienWorld.com may be going defunct. We stopped asking people to vote for us there quite a while ago. I notice we are still listed as Number 5 in popularity but there aren't and others listed below us. In the quantity section we are also listed as Number 5; however, using their link to here, you can't get here from there. So no, the problem is not with your computer.

I believe Taz said he no longer worried about them because we received hundreds more hits from Google and Yahoo than we ever did from TolkienWorld. When TolkienWorld were at their pinnacle, we seldom got in the popularity top ten, but were usually in the mid-teens to the lower twenties. We have always been listed as Number five quality wise.

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